Porous aromatic covalent framework (PAF) polymers are characterized by a rigid framework mainly comprised of aromatic rings. The framework is usually built up by addition or substitution reaction of one or more monomers. Typical reactions are C—C coupling reactions or addition reactions under ring formation. PAF polymers typically show water and temperature resistant behavior.
PAF polymers are described by, e.g., T. Ben et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 48 (2009), 9457-9460; Z. Wang et al., Chem. Commun. 46 (2010), 7730-7732; J. Schmidt et al., Macromolecules 42 (2009), 4426-4429; M. Rose et al., Chem. Commun. 2008, 2462-2464; H. Ren et al., Chem. Commun. 46 (2010), 291-293; A. Trewin et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 49 (2010), 1533-1535; J. Holst et al., Macromolecules 43 (2010), 8531-8538; W. Lu et al., Chem. Mater. 22 (2010), 5464-5472 P. Pandey et al., J. Mat. Chem. 21 (2011), 1700-1703 and US 2010/0331436 A1.
However these PAF polymers are generally obtained as small crystallites or powders and thus cannot be used for potential applications like the storage of gases or as carriers in catalysis in an efficient way.